NBA:
Jimmy Butler scored a playoff career-high 45 points, including a personal 7-0 run in the final moments, and the Miami Heat held off the Atlanta Hawks 115-105 in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday night.
Tyler Herro scored 15 for Miami, while Max Strus scored 14 and Gabe Vincent added 11 for top-seeded Miami, which took a 2-0 lead over the eighth-seeded Hawks.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 19 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter for Atlanta. Trae Young scored 25 for the Hawks.
In other playoff action:
Brandon Ingram scored 37 points, CJ McCollum added 23 and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the top-seeded Phoenix Suns 125-114 in Game 2, evening the series in their Western Conference first-round matchup. Not only did the Suns lose the game, but they’re unsure about the health status of All-Star guard Devin Booker. Booker was spectacular in the first half with 31 points before leaving with right hamstring tightness in the third quarter. The Pelicans earned their first playoff win since 2018.
Ja Morant scored 23 points and handed out 10 assists as the Memphis Grizzlies looked much more like the team that posted the NBA’s second-best record, routing the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-96. That evens up their first-round Western Conference series at 1 apiece. Morant finished a rebound shy of a triple-double. Game 3 is Thursday night in Minneapolis. Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 20. All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Nets guard Kyrie Irving has been fined $50,000 for making obscene gestures and directing profane language toward the crowd during Brooklyn’s Game 1 playoff loss to the Celtics.
Cameras captured Irving flipping his middle finger toward fans as he ran down the court after making a shot in the third quarter. Irving said after the game that his actions were in response to jeers from fans he said crossed the line.
Fans have given Irving, who spent two seasons in Boston before leaving in free agency, similar receptions in recent visits to Boston.
Elsewhere in the NBA:
There’s no overwhelming favorite for NBA champion as the playoffs start, but that was by no means a problem for ABC and ESPN. The five opening-round games of the playoffs last weekend averaged 4.17 million viewers on the two networks, up 32 percent from last year and the best showing for a playoff start since 2011.
UCLA guard Jules Bernard has declared for the NBA draft. The senior won’t hire an agent to preserve his eligibility. Bernard has one year of eligibility remaining after the NCAA allowed an extra year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He averaged 12.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists last season.
MLB:
Joan Adon became the first Nationals starter to finish six innings in 2022, throwing 6 1/3 scoreless to help Washington beat the punchless Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 and sweep a doubleheader.
Adon gave up three hits and walked two while striking out five in Game 2. He never allowed a runner to reach third base. In Game 1, Victor Robles delivered an RBI double for Washington’s first hit off Madison Bumgarner in the fifth, sending the hosts on their way to a 6-1 victory.
Elsewhere on the MLB schedule:
Max Fried looked right at home, opening with five perfect innings while pitching the Atlanta Braves to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Los Angeles-area native, in his sixth career start at Dodger Stadium including playoff games, did not allow a baserunner until Hanser Alberto led off the sixth with a line-drive single. In seven scoreless innings of work, Fried gave up two hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers’ longtime closer, picked up his third save of the season for the Braves with a perfect ninth. Travis d’Arnaud jumpstarted the Atlanta offense with a home run in the second inning to help end the Dodgers’ seven-game winning streak.
C.J. Cron hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Colorado Rockies beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5. Rockies starter Kyle Freeland agreed to a $64.5 million, five-year contract with his hometown team earlier in the day and left with the lead after five innings. He was able to celebrate when Colorado rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the seventh. Cron connected off Jeurys Familia to put the Rockies back in front with his sixth home run of the season. Justin Lawrence got the win and Daniel Bard worked a perfect ninth for his fifth save. Kyle Schwarber homered and drove in three runs for the Phillies, and J.T. Realmuto had three hits. Philadelphia has lost three straight.
Seth Brown hit a two-run double in the sixth inning, Cristian Pache made another spectacular defensive play and the Oakland Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1. A day after their lowest attendance for a home opener without COVID-19 restrictions in more than 30 years, the A’s drew a crowd of 3,748 — the smallest at the Coliseum since Sept. 25, 1980. Elvis Andrus and Christian Bethancourt both had two hits and scored to help Oakland to its seventh win in 10 games after an 0-2 start. Anthony Santander and Trey Mancini each had two hits for the Orioles.
Manny Machado homered for the second consecutive game, Joe Musgrove pitched into the seventh inning and the San Diego Padres beat Cincinnati 6-2 to hand the beat-up Reds their eighth straight loss. The Reds lost another player to injury when catcher Tyler Stephenson was knocked out of the game after a collision with Luke Voit in the first. Voit slammed into Stephenson’s head as he slid into the plate while trying to score from first on Jurickson Profar’s double. Stephenson held onto the ball for the out but was on the ground for several minutes. He was able to walk to the dugout.
Robbie Ray pitched six strong innings to win his home debut for Seattle, Eugenio Suárez hit a three-run home run in the first, and the Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 6-2. Ray, the reigning 2021 AL Cy Young Award winner, made his first two starts on the road and finally pitched in front of his new home crowd at T-Mobile Park after signing a $115 million, five-year contract. Sticking mainly to his four-seam fastball and slider, Ray allowed two runs and four hits, and struck out four.
Jo Adell tied a career-high with three hits and Kurt Suzuki and Brandon Marsh drove in two runs each as the Los Angeles Angels used a big fifth inning to break open the game and cruise to an 7-2 win over the Houston Astros Tuesday night. Both teams were missing stars with Los Angeles center fielder Mike Trout out for a second game with a bruised left hand and Houston second baseman Jose Altuve out after straining his left hamstring Monday.
Max Scherzer pitched no-hit ball into the sixth inning of his anticipated home debut and the New York Mets rode their $130 million ace to a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants for a doubleheader sweep. The three-time Cy Young Award winner allowed one hit in seven innings and combined with two relievers on a two-hitter. Francisco Lindor was the hero in the opener, delivering a game-ending single in the 10th inning of a 5-4 victory.
Albert Pujols had two hits and scored twice as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 5-1. Adam Wainwright threw 5 2/3 effective innings, allowing one run on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina made their 307th start together, the third most all time for a pitcher-catcher battery.
Connor Wong drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 Tuesday night despite getting held to three hits. Wong was called up from the minors Monday to replace catcher Kevin Plawecki, who was put on the COVID-19 injured list.
Wander Franco hit his first homer of the season, a two-run bomb to left-center in the third inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays held on to beat the Chicago Cubs 6-5. Cubs rookie Seiya Suzuki drew three walks but his nine-game hitting streak came to an end. Tampa Bay reliever Josh Fleming got the win. Andrew Kittredge retired the final six Chicago batters for his second save.
Salvador Perez homered twice and Hunter Dozier hit anther go-ahead home run to lift the Kansas City Royals over the Minnesota Twins 4-3. Perez homered in the fourth off Chrs Archer and tied the score 3-3 in the sixth when he went deep against Tyler Duffey. One out later, Dozier hit a tiebreaking home run for the second straight game.
Corbin Burnes struck out 10 and allowed two runs in seven innings to earn his first win of the season as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2. The Brewers won their third straight despite getting held to a season-low three hits. The Pirates had a season-low four hits.
For the second straight day, the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians were postponed by inclement weather and unplayable conditions. Snow piled up in downtown Cleveland the past two days. The game will be made up as part of a traditional doubleheader Wednesday.
Three-time All-Star reliever Greg Holland has been designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers.
The 36-year-old right-hander allowed three home runs in his 4 2/3 innings pitched. The move before Tuesday night’s game in Seattle cleared a roster spot for No. 1 starter Jon Gray to be activated from the injured list and start the series opener against the Mariners. Holland had a 7.71 ERA in his five appearances.
In other MLB news:
Pitcher Kyle Freeland and his hometown Colorado Rockies have agreed to a $64.5 million, five-year contract, avoiding a salary arbitration hearing that had been scheduled for late May. Freeland gets $7 million this season, $10.5 million in 2023, $15 million in 2024 and $16 million each in 2025 and 2026. Freeland is 0-2 in two starts this season.
Red Sox catcher Christian Vázquez and infielder Jonathan Araúz have been added to the COVID-19 related injury list. The team announced their additions a day after catcher Kevin Plawecki tested and two staffers tested positive for the virus. After Sunday’s 8-1 victory over the Twins, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Boston expects to be without multiple unvaccinated players for an upcoming series at Toronto.
The Seattle Mariners placed catcher Luis Torrens on the COVID-19 injured list. Torrens is the second Seattle player to land on the virus list in recent days. Outfielder Mitch Hangier was placed on the COVID-19 list on Saturday after he tested positive.
Major League Baseball is moving toward the trend set by soccer for advertising on uniforms. The San Diego Padres became the first team to announce a deal, saying patches with a Motorola logo will be worn on their jerseys starting next season.
Minor League games averaged 2 hours, 39 minutes in the first three days with a pitch clock, down 20 minutes from the prior average this season. Major League Baseball says the 132 games with a clock averaged 5.11 runs and 15.9 hits, close to the average of 5.13 runs and 16.1 hits for the 335 games without a clock.
NHL:
Jakub Vrana had two goals, including the tiebreaking score in the third period, to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Red Wings beat Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy for the first time in 14 career games.
Lucas Raymond and Oskar Sundqvist also scored for Detroit. Thomas Greiss stopped 38 shots.
In other NHL action:
Adam Gaudette scored the shootout winner in the fifth round and the Ottawa Senators beat the Canucks 4-3, snapping Vancouver’s six-game win streak. Alex Formenton had a pair of goals in regulation for the Senators. Parker Kelly also scored and Nikita Zaitsev had two assists. J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver, and Travis Dermott scored his first goal for the Canucks.
Scott Reedy had his first career two-goal game and the San Jose Sharks snapped a 10-game winless streak by beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2. Rudolfs Balcers also scored and Kaapo Kahkonen made 22 saves to help the Sharks snap their longest skid since losing 10 straight in November 2005. Jack Roslovic scored twice for Columbus for his third multi-goal game in the past five contests. Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves. The Blue Jackets have lost 11 of their last 14 games.
Phillip Danault scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, and the Los Angeles Kings solidified their grasp on a playoff spot with a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in a frequently spectacular performance, and Adrian Kempe scored the first goal in the Kings’ third victory in four games. Los Angeles is closing in on the end of its three-season playoff drought, moving five points clear of Vegas for third place in the Pacific Division. Adam Henrique scored and John Gibson stopped 26 shots for the Ducks.
Matt Duchene scored his 40th goal of the season and Mikael Granlund scored the only goal of the shootout to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames. Filip Forsberg also scored and Juuse Saros made 19 saves in regulation and overtime for Nashville, winners of two of three. The Predators entered Tuesday in the Western Conference’s top wild card position, tied in points with the Dallas Stars. The Flames inched closer to clinching the top spot in the Pacific Division.
Aleksander Barkov had his third career hat trick, leading the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 overtime victory against the New York Islanders. Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves and Eastern Conference-leading Florida extended its win streak to 11 games.
Charlie McAvoy scored 48 seconds into overtime to lift the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues. Jake DeBrusk and Taylor Hall also scored for Boston, which won its second straight after a season-high three-game losing streak. The victory snapped the Blues' nine-game winning streak.
Ryan Strome scored twice, Adam Fox added a goal and Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves as the New York Rangers recorded a third-straight shutout and their 50th win of the season, 3-0 over the Winnipeg Jets. Eric Comrie made 31 saves for the Jets, who trail the Dallas Stars by 10 points in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
William Nylander scored his career-high 32nd goal of the season and Jack Campbell made 36 saves in his 30th win of the year as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2. Timothy Liljegren, Jason Spezza and David Kampf scored, and Ilya Mikheyev added an empty-net goal for Toronto.
Cam Talbot had his third shutout of the season to help the Minnesota Wild to a 2-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Talbot made 26 saves as Minnesota swept the season series between the teams. Kevin Fiala scored and assisted on Matt Boldy’s goal in the third period. In his second start of the season, Carey Price made 28 saves.
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